I want to know if there is any way to get out of a used car contract?
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I want to know if there is any way to get out of a used car contract?
My fiance and I went to a dealership near my home yesterday to see about getting a car; this was 2 days ago. While we were there we were told we had been approved and they showed us a car. After asking if there was something bigger for our 3 kids, we were told the only other car they could get us into was smaller and older. They said, “This is all you can get”. They assured us there were no safety hazards and the car had been inspected. When driving it home we noticed the ride was very rough and have been told the struts are bad and we are being charged more than 5 times what the car is worth. What can we do?
Asked on November 2, 2011 under General Practice, Michigan
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If you can show that you were defrauded in some way, you could rescind (or get out of) the contract: they get the car back, you get your money. Fraud is the knowing or intentional misrepresentation, or lie, about some material, or important, fact. So if they dealer misrepresented or lied about the physical condition of the car, about it being inspected, about the mileage or age of the vehicle, about whether it previously been in an accident or otherwise damaged, etc., that could provide grounds to rescind the contract. (You'd need to take the dealer to court if you can't work matters out with it.)
Note that the fact that are being charged more than 5 times what the car is worth only matters, again, if the dealer lied in some way to get you to pay that amount, such as by lyinig about the car's age or condition. If they did not lie about some fact and simply told you the car was worth a certain amount and you agreed to pay it, that may, in retrospect, have been a bad or unfortuantee decision on your part, but it would not give you any rights against them.
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